


The Masks we Wear Hide More than our Faces

by camphalfbloodprince



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Captain Swan - Freeform, College AU, F/M, Halloween AU, Mentions of Frankenwolf, Modern Setting, mentions of Snowing, mentions of outlawqueen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-29 18:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5137529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camphalfbloodprince/pseuds/camphalfbloodprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We went to a halloween party dressed as a couple accidentally" tumblr prompt</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Halloween 2012: Fairytales

** **

"Swan!"

"What is it Jones, I don't have time for you right now."

"Will I be seeing you at Whale's party tonight?" He jogged to catch up with her quick walking pace as she made her way to her next lecture.

"Of course I'll be there, Ruby's my best friend and she basically put together the whole thing!" She said, not even giving him a second look. And it was true, she'd seen the way Ruby had all but slaved herself balancing a near perfect GPA while planning what would definitely be a party to remember.

She'd been there every step of the way, through tasting horrible homemade baked goods, to decoration shopping the second Halloween stores started popping up, and going from one to one in search of specific "spooky" lanterns because " _No Emma orange is not spooky enough!_ " She'd be at that party, if it was the last thing she did.

"Thought so." Killian said, grinning "And what might I expect you in, love?" She stopped in her tracks, extreme annoyance, the one only he could bring up in her, written all over her face as she looked over to him

"Why should I even tell you? It's none of your business how I dress!" "Indeed," he replied, taking a step in her personal space "but you see I simply wanted a heads up in case you decided to show up in one of those outrageously revealing outfits so I could be prepared for the heavenly sight you would make"

She rolled her eyes at that, trying to ignore how close to each other they were standing and the heat she felt rushing although her, that pulsing need she felt to crush her lips onto him, before taking a step back.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see, Jones" she called out as she walked away to her class, not daring to look at him, knowing, _just knowing_ , he would be grinning like a madman if she dared look at him.

 

* * *

 

She slipped into her dress later that day, thanking God for finally making a princess without fancy hooped skirts and tight corsets, and was deciding whether or not to wear the wig that came with the costume, when Ruby came in, wearing what she assumed was a sexy red riding hood outfit, the skirt of her dress ending in the middle of her thighs, the longest part of her outfit probably the floor length red hood on her back. She held a small bag in her hand that she quickly discarded, letting it fall carelessly on Emma's desk.

"Ruby, you DO know these sexy outfits are part of the reason why women are sexualised so much right?" Emma said, placing her hands on her hips and raising her brows at her friend, who was now pouting at her.

"You're such a buzzkill and the party hasn't even started!" She said, throwing her hands in the air and rolling her eyes in desperation, before standing next to her friend in front of the mirror and fixing her lipstick (blood red of course).

"So Victor told me you and Killian had a moment today," Ruby mentioned, her mouth setting in a wolfish grin "what's that about?" Emma looked at her and huffed a laugh and shook her head slightly before answering.

"Jones thinks every time I talk to him is a moment" "Well, from the conversations I've witnessed, he isn't wrong" Ruby said, a wolfish smirk playing on her glimmering lips as Emma turned to look at her in disbelief, hands grabbing at the wig to smack at her friend's arm, who giggled in response.

"What?" She continued, smile still wide on her face "You two basically _eye-fuck_ every time you're around each other I swear you're, like, tearing at each other's clothes with your eyes and shit!"

"We do not!" Emma exclaimed, her face twisted in disgust.

"Hey, don't worry about it!" Said the brunette, slinging an arm over her friend's shoulders "You're totally right to, he's a fine piece of ass, I would totally be all up on him if I weren't already in a committed relationship!"

"Okay Rubs that's enough thank you!" Laughed Emma, pushing to get away from her friend's embrace, before standing in front of the mirror again.

"So." She took a breath "Wig or no wig?" "Well," she went to the small bag she'd brought with her, pulling out insanely long blond extensions to match her friend's hair

"I would say neither." She dangled the hairpiece looking all smug at her thinking in advance "Now sit down so I can put these in."

 

* * *

 

Emma walked into the loft, relatively large for a college student, alone. Ruby had left right after finishing helping her with her immense braid, now hanging over her shoulder, to help Victor set up the final few touches to the place before the party, and, she had to say, the apartment looked incredible. Spiderwebs at every corner, carved pumpkins placed on nearly every surface, the few ones that were not covered by the giant vegetables littered by food and drinks, and _those damned purple lanterns they'd looked everywhere for._

The crowd was impressive as well. While there weren't that many people, probably just over 25, they'd all dressed up. Emma saw her friend Mary Margret talking to her boyfriend David, coincidentally dressed up as Snow White and Prince Charming, the nickname their group gave them for being the "perfect couple", Robin dressed as his namesake vigilante archer Robin Hood, ironically flirting with Regina, who's costume could only be described as the Evil Queen's.

Emma saw a few more interesting costumes while making her way to the kitchen isle, a group of dwarves, a Mad Hatter, and then the more generic "slutty" costumes, not so much unlike her friend's, whom she finally had sight upon, standing next to her Mad Scientist of a boyfriend, as they seemed to be discussing his choice of costume.

"Victor you can't be a Doctor I already told you!" She said, throwing her hands up in the air " _You know_ it doesn't fit in the fairytale theme!"

"Does too!" He answered, fixing his lab coat "Frankenstein is a classic, plus I wasn't about to spend a fortune on some costume I would only ever wear once instead of wearing something I already own"

Emma laughed at their exchange, notifying them of her presence.

"Emma!" Ruby shrieked "You look so amazing!" She gave her sign to twirl so she could admire her. Emma laughed again, rolling her eyes but obliging

"I have you to thank I guess, I mean, you're the one that picked the costume" Emma noticed Victor looking from his girlfriend to her, a smirk on his face, before finally turning to Ruby

"Did you get her to dress as Rapunzel on purpose?"

"No why?" Asked the brunette, clearly confused.

"Oh no nothing!" He answered, looking even more smug than usual, confusing the two girls even more for a minute, before they went back to enjoying themselves.

 

* * *

 

The party was in full swing when she spotted him walking through the door, and her mind blanked for a second as she took his irritatingly attractive self in.

His blue vest over the white button down with the rolled up sleeves made his already captivating eyes stand out, and, she had to say, those beige pants hugged his ass in a most agreeable way (though she would never admit to blatantly staring at his behind and enjoying the view. Out loud, that is)

She realised she'd been caught red handed in the process of admiring him when she noticed the self-satisfied grin that adorned his face as he approached her.

"Well well, Swan" he started, flipping the fucking _frying pan_ he'd brought with him, "It seems, as fate would have it, we've come dressed to match." He raised an eyebrow suggestively at her.

"Yeah I don't believe in coincidences, so speak Jones, who told you?" She asked, taking on a firm pose, crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive manner and raising her brows as well.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, love" he answered, attaching his pan to his belt and mirroring her posture.

"Don't play dumb with me, Jones" she said, squinting her eyes at him "There's no way you just decided to dress up as Flynn Rider."

"Perhaps," he answered, letting his tongue run along the inside of his teeth "but maybe it really was none but that, a coincidence."

His smirk was in full mode, clearly extremely pleased to have gotten to her, and she let out a huff in anger and threw her arms up in disbelief, turning around to walk away, muttering to herself curses of incredulity at the situation, only then noticing the many pairs of eyes set on them, most of them grinning, and Victor laughing his ass off in the back as he was getting all but scolded by a very amused Ruby, a sight at which Emma rolled her eyes.

 

* * *

 

In the end, the night didn't end so badly, if Emma had to be completely truthful, she even managed to enjoy conversing with Killian Jones, of all people, finally allowing her to see another, sweeter side of him, her thinking he might not be the annoyance she thought of him before, but instead a potential friend she could see herself hanging out with. (She surprised herself quite a bit with that last part)

As it turned out, they discovered they had, in reality, a few things in common , namely having both been abandoned in the past, when she learnt of his mother's passing and his father deserting him and his brother's passing, and she told him about her past in the foster system and how she finally ended up being adopted by the Nolans when she was 16, during a late movie night a few weeks later, after Ruby and Victor had none too graciously excused themselves and they'd been left alone after the movie had come to an end. Huh. Who would've known Emma Swan and Killian Jones would end up becoming best friends.


	2. Halloween 2013: 90's Cartoons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hi guys! Hope you're enjoying this short little fic! The coming chapter may come with a little delay because it's still mostly unwritten so I hope you'll forgive me! Reviews are always welcome :D

Emma awoke with a text and a dreadful hangover that morning, feeling as if her head was being bashed in, and her eyes were on fire at the sight of the daylight. 

 

One of her hands went up to massage her temples in an attempt to dull the throbbing, to no avail. 

 

As she turned to her bedside table to get a look at her phone, she noticed a glass of water and two Advils sitting over a note. She thanked her lucky star, Fairy Godmother, guardian angel, or whoever had looked out for her the previous night as she took the pills and read the note. 

 

"I hope this little experience will have taught you something useful darling, and that is that you could not out-drink me if you tried."

 

As it turned out, her fairy godmother's name was Killian Jones. She smiled at his care and concern for a minute, letting the memories of the night before wash over her. 

 

She'd been making her way back to her boyfriend Walsh's dorm, when she heard moans and shouts while approaching his room. She had paused outside for a second, in complete and utter shock, hoping, just hoping, it wasn't want it sounded like. She wanted for this to be nothing but a bad dream, for it not to be her boyfriend, her Walsh, the Walsh that had assured her he would never betray her. She took a deep breath, and extended a shaking hand to the handle, and opened the door. 

 

She was greeted by the sight of her boyfriend on top of another girl, Zelena, she recognised, (Walsh had introduced them during a party), as they both moaned wildly. She slammed the door behind her, announcing her presence, making the both of them break out in panic, Walsh crawling rapidly off of the redhead as she pulled the bedsheets up to cover herself. 

 

He'd tried making excuses, trying to convince her it wasn't what it looked like, but she just yelled at him, and kept yelling in spite of her breaking voice and the pools of tears filling her eyes.

 

After that, she'd pulled out her phone and had called the only person she felt she could talk to about this without being given one of those useless "keep holding on to hope" speeches most of her friends were so fond of, and he'd showed up at her dorm room door with a bottle of rum and suspicious bloodied knuckles, and they'd spent their night drinking heavily as Killian comforted her. 

 

Emma reached for her phone, glad it was Saturday and she didn't have any classes, but a quick glance at the date just made her groan. She was not ready for social interactions just yet, and with the party her friend had prepared for Halloween, she knew she was in for a long night, and there was no way for her to miss it. 

 

She opened the message she'd received (from Killian, of course) asking her how she was feeling, and quickly typed a response, telling him she'd been better, and that she'd see him at the party at night, looking forward to the support he would provide her. 

 

* * *

 

Emma was putting the finishing touches on her costume, fluffing up her pigtails and lacing up her ballet shoes as she thought of what she might tell her friends about her break up with Walsh. 

 

God, it'd really happened hadn't it. 

 

After all this time, eight months together, they were done. 

 

Although, if felt to Emma, as if they'd taken their separate paths weeks ago, when Walsh had begun being more and more distant, and she found herself growing increasingly irritated at every word coming out of his mouth. 

 

Huh, she though, maybe this break up wasn't such a bad thing after all. 

 

Sure she was affected by their split, but not as much as she'd thought she'd be, a sense of regret and disappointment at having wasted so much time with him overwhelming her instead of the sadness at his leaving she'd been expecting, and, perhaps, a glimmer of relief and lightness at the centre of all that. 

 

Emma'd spent the day debating whether or not to let her friends know of what had transpired, but had ultimately decided not to, not wanting to have them fussing over her, showering her with attention she did not particularly want in her current state. That was, after all, one of the reasons she'd called Killian instead of Ruby or Mary Margret the previous night. 

 

Her alarm rang at that moment, pulling her from her thoughts, letting her know she'd need to get moving soon. 

 

She grabbed her clutch from her bed, threw in her phone and headed towards the party. 

 

* * *

 

The party was already in full swing when she walked into Victor's flat, people dressed up all over the place, surrounded by what seemed to be the same decorations she'd seen the previous year. The only difference was that this time around, the theme had been 90's cartoons instead of Fairytales. 

 

As she made her way towards the kitchen isle set up as a bar, she took the time to admire the costumes around her, smiling at the never ending creativity of her friends. She saw a group of powerpuff girls, recognised Mary Margret and David in Ms. Frizzle and the Magic school bus couple's costume, which made her laugh and she told herself to remember asking MM how she got her brother to dress up in a bright yellow cardboard box. She saw Regina and her best friend Katherine dressed as Daria and Jane checking out Robin and his buddies, dressed as ninja turtles, when finally she saw Ruby in her Carmen Sandiego costume which she'd been talking about forever, and Victor as Waldo standing next to her. 

 

When she reached them and her friend took a look at her costume she looked incredulously at her. 

 

"Are you two seriously doing it on purpose?" She asked, mouth hanging ajar as Victor laughed like a maniac. 

 

Emma's brow furrowed "What are you talking about Rubs, who's "us two" and what are we doing on purpose?" Which only made Waldo laugh so loud it would have been difficult not to find him. 

 

"Babe I think she seriously has no idea!" Victor managed to let out in between laughs and heavy breaths before doubling up in laughter. 

 

Emma made a face at the guy and turned to Ruby "It looks like your boyfriend's already too drunk to make sense." 

 

Ruby rolled her eyes "Leave him alone, pre-med's really taking it out of him, he needs to let loose a little!" She waved a hand over her head in dismissal "Plus, he's still making complete sense" the corners of her lips quirking up in that trademark wolffish grin only she had the secret of. "You just wait a second for him to get back from the bathroom" she added, noticing the way the blond's eyebrow raised in absolute and utter confusion. 

 

"Are you serious right now Swan?" 

 

The lilted voice surprised her as he turned around and took him in, jaw dropping at the sight of his costume before beginning to laugh in disbelief. 

 

Killian's dark mass of hair replaced by a horrid orange wig, he was wearing the thick glasses he sometimes donned on instead of his usual contacts, and had a long white lab coat with buttons at its side, the overly large purple gloves only completed the look even further. 

 

"Oh my god look at yourself" she said once she'd rained her laughter at her 

friend as she wiped off a few tears from her face and he grinned at her like a madman, which she found quite fitting. 

 

"Care to take a tour in my Laboratory, Swan?" He tilted his head slightly as he invaded her space, lowering his voice to none but a husky whisper "I'll let you touch my experiments and press my buttons to see what they do. " he wiggled his eyebrows at her. 

 

She swatted his chest as she pursed her lips in a tight smile, just itching for his comforting touch. 

 

Being the pro he was at reading her, Killian heard her silent plea and snaked his arms around her in a comforting embrace as she laced her arms around his waist. 

 

"How you holding up, love?" He asked gently through her hair. 

 

"Okay, I guess," She murmured in his chest "haven't told anyone yet, don't want them to overreact."

 

"Emma, love," he pulled back to look at her, concern deep in his incredibly blue eyes "you know we are your friends and we are here for you."

 

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply as she nodded before she pulled him back so she could be in his calming arms. 

 

"I still can't believe you dressed as Dexter." She said after a moment of comfortable silence, stepping away from his embrace into an unexpected feeling of loss and cold that greeted her as she let go. 

 

"Well, you dressed as DeeDee so I assume we're both mad." He grinned raising an eyebrow playfully at her. 

 

* * *

 

She ended up telling the rest of her little group of friends of what had happened the previous day after the party died down to just them, only lightly mentioning the fact that Killian was there, not wanting the looks she just knew she would be getting from Ruby and the rest of the ladies had they known the two of them had spent the night drinking alone together and mused over the heartbreaks that had come their ways in the past. 

 

The news was greeted with revolt from her friends, and a few death threats from some, David even had to be physical restrained when he started yelling about how he'd "kill the bastard" as he started getting up and marching towards the door, it took Killian telling him that he'd "already given the arsehole a beating", showing him his chaffed knuckles, to bring down his anger to a manageable level, and Emma's eyes slightly teared up at the sight of so many people caring for her like never before in her life as a foster kid before the Nolans took her in. 

 

After that, Emma decided to head back to her dorm, as most were beginning to bid their goodnights, and after a last round of hugs and encouragements to "stay strong" and whatnot, Killian told her he'd "accompany her back to her dorm", pompous bastard and his flourishing phrases that made butterflies go wild within her. 

 

They walked back, making small talk about anything and everything until they reached her door. 

 

"You didn't have to walk me back you know, I can take care of myself." She told him, turning to face him. 

 

"Of course you can, Swan," he chuckled, letting his head drop forward as his hand reached to scratch behind his ear before he looked up to her again "but that doesn't mean you should have to." 

 

His words took her aback, the hope shining in his eyes overwhelming. This wasn't a situation she was expecting, and, in the moment, the only thing she could feel was that little voice in the back of her head yelling "ABORT ABORT" telling her to run. 

 

So that's exactly what she did. 

 

She fumble around for a second as she found an exit from all the feelings for the man standing in front of her. "Why do you even still have this on" she said, clearing her throat as she pointed to the orange wig he still had on, and she tried her best not to notice the way his eyes dropped with sadness (she failed) before he went back to his smirking self, which she knew was none but a mask to protect himself, just like she had the walls she hid behind. 

 

"I don't know love, I rather like the hue on me" he put his hand behind his head to strike a pose "quite brings out my eyes don't you think" he raised an eyebrow at her, making her huff a laugh as she reached up and pulled the horrid thing off and he ran a hand through his hair, shaking it out slightly. 

 

Unfortunately that did not go quite as planned.

 

The wig'd left him with what could only be described as sex hair. 

 

She was left gaping at him for a second before she threw all caution to the wind, letting the wig drop to the floor as her fingers reached up to tangle themselves in his newly free hair and she pulled his lips to hers in an all-consuming kiss that he took no time reciprocating, holding her waist close to his, making her skin tingle wherever she felt his touch through the thin material of her tutu. 

 

Fireworks. She saw nothing but fireworks and felt nothing but him around her as he overwhelmed her senses, holding her in those strong arms of him she loved around her so, and his lips, melting with hers and moving in perfect harmony. 

 

It took a while for her mind to catch up with her body, pulling back reluctantly from him, dropping her hands from his hair to clutch themselves in front of her chest as she stammered for the words that would explain to him how this was nothing but a slip, how it was nothing, a one time thing. But as she looked up in his eyes she just saw a mix of confusion, adoration, and heartbreak. 

 

"Swan, please st-" 

 

She didn't let him finish, unlocking her door and slipping inside, muttering apologies as she shut the door, unable to look at his heartbroken self any further. 

 

She laid on her bed for a while as she kept hearing wild knocking at her door and faint mutters of what she could only imagine were his peas to open the door so they could talk it out. He doesn't get it, she though, he doesn't get I can't just talk it out and then magic it alright, I can't let myself take a chance. 

Suddenly, the knocking stopped and she was finally left with her thoughts to relive all that had just happened, as if in a dream. 

 

Until the sound of tire screeching and a very familiar scream, muffled by the thick windows pulled her away from her thoughts, and she was suddenly filled with dread. 

 

No. She thought. 

 

Killian. 


End file.
